Category: Dance
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Lack of Afro: Jack of All Trades
Lack of Afro is Adam Gibbons, who lacks both an Afro and the deep suntan normally expected from the sound of 70s funk. The name might be a joke but the music isn’t, as Gibbons belts out pukka-sounding 70s soul, funk and disco, with some hip-hop thrown in. The sound is either peak Earth Wind…
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Charlie Puth: Voicenotes
Puth is one of those people older music fans hate, but the kids love: he shot to fame via YouTube. His debut album Nine Track Mind was poor: “whimpers like a sick kitten” as Q put it. There’s no ailing kitties with this new album. It’s maybe not a mighty lion, but it’s certainly a…
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Re-TROS: Before The Applause
We reviewed this late last year but caught them live at Bluedot and they were outstanding. They’re from “Beijing, China”, as singer/guitarist Hua Dong introduced them, like there’s any other kind of Beijing. He was a compelling performer, playing keys and willing the music to do his bidding, as he erratically waved his arms about,…
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Sarah Blasko: Depth of Field
This fine pop album has its roots firmly in the 80s, while sounding modern: no dated, overly brassy 80s production here. The feel of the music reminds us of classic acts such as from Donna Summer to INXS, and even Pictures at 11-era Robert Plant, as well as Kim Carnes’ Bette Davis Eyes, the latter…
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Anne-Marie: Speak Your Mind
This is everything that’s right and wrong about modern pop music. Wrong, because it’s as formulaic as they come – EDM beat, X Factor-style vocals, lavish production but little melody (it’s all about the beat, man….) — but right because it’s impossible not to enjoy it, and it’s cheerful. Anne-Marie can sing: Wikipedia reports she…
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Namosh: Music Muscle
Sometimes we hear an interview with a cool DJ and order some hardcore dance (ie disco, four beats to the bar, nothing too whacky) from Chicago or somewhere; Frankie Knuckles is way too commercial, it’s people like Cajmere or songs from genres with “jack” in the title. The music is often hard, almost industrial, a…
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Denis Jones: 3333
Like The Courteeners, Denis Jones is from Manchester but unlike them he makes interesting music. On a website we found he was described as making “scuzzy Mancunian blues”, which is good, but misses out the word “electronic”. It’s the blues of a dirty city where residents have good reason to sing soulful songs, but it’s…
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David Federmann: Water’s Edge
We never mock people with geeky hobbies, because for a long time we obsessed over Rob da Bank’s early morning music show: dance, chill-out and acoustic music combining to often glorious effect. This new album from French jazz aficionado and electronic producer Federmann would have fitted right in. It would have been the first tune…
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Pet Shop Boys: Introspective
In other reviews of Pet Shop Boys reissues (Please, Actually) we’ve enjoyed the 12” extended mixes on the bonus CD. With Introspective, the tracks are the extended mixes, the PSB later whittling them down for singles. It comes with the usual excellent sleeve notes — worth the price of admission on their own — which…
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Pet Shop Boys: Actually
Another cracking album from the PSB: Actually (as in “Pet Shop Boys, actually”) was their second album, coming out in 1987 and being a critique of not only Thatcher’s economy but the whole 80s thing, from materialism to the post-Aids club scene. The tunes are great: four massive hits (What I Have Done, Shopping, Rent…
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